This e-torial will introduce you to the Ribbon in the new Office 2007 suite. You will need to have Microsoft Office 2007 installed on your computer.

Notes: Microsoft Office programs described in this training presentation include Microsoft Office Word 2007, Office Excel ® 2007, Office PowerPoint ® 2007, Office Access 2007, and Office Outlook ® 2007. The Ribbon was developed in response to what Office users—possibly you—have asked for: programs that are simpler to use, with commands that are easier to find. The Ribbon may be new, but with a little time and exposure you’ll find that it works for you, not against you.

Instead of having 30 or so undisplayed toolbars, and commands buried on menus or in dialog boxes, you now have one control center that brings the essentials together and makes them very visual. And once you learn how to use the Ribbon in one program (the picture here shows Word 2007), you’ll find it easy to use in other programs too.

You’ll find the same organization in other 2007 Office system programs, with the first tab including commands for the most key type of work. The primary tab in Excel, PowerPoint, and Access is also the Home tab. In Outlook, when you create a message, it’s the Message tab.

Take the Paste command, for example. It’s one of the most frequently used commands. Why not give it maximum exposure in the window, along with its related commands, Cut and Copy ? In Word and Excel, these commands all appear on the Home tab. Less frequently used commands are less prominent on the Ribbon. For example, most people use Paste Special less often than they use Paste . So to access Paste Special , you first click the arrow on Paste .

If you don’t have a picture in your Word document, the commands to work with a picture aren’t necessary. But after you insert a picture in Word, the Picture Tools appear along with the Format tab that contains the commands you need to work with the picture. When you’re through working with the picture, Picture Tools go away. If you want to work on the picture again, just click it, and the tab appears again with all the commands you need.

In PowerPoint, the example described here, the Font group on the Home tab contains all the commands that are used the most to make font changes: commands to change the font face and font size, and to make the font bold, italic, or underlined. Clicking the Dialog Box Launcher gets you to all the other, less commonly used options such as superscript.

Try-undo-try. You select a font, font color, or style, or make changes to a picture. But the option you select turns out not to be what you want, so you undo and try again, and perhaps again, until you finally get what you have in mind. To use live preview, rest the mouse pointer on an option. Your document changes to show you what that option would look like, before you actually make a selection. After you see the preview of what you want, then you click the option to make your selection. Click Play to watch the process of seeing how different underline styles will look before selecting one. [ Note to trainer: To play the animation when viewing the slide show, right-click the animation, and then click Play . After playing the file once, you may have to click Rewind (after right-clicking) and then click Play . If you have problems viewing the animation, see the notes for the last slide in this presentation about playing an Adobe Flash animation. If you still have problems viewing the animation, the slide that follows this one is a duplicate slide with static art. Delete either the current slide or the next slide before showing the presentation.]

Try-undo-try. You select a font, font color, or style, or make changes to a picture. But the option you select turns out not to be what you want, so you undo and try again, and perhaps again, until you finally get what you have in mind. To use live preview, rest the mouse pointer on an option. As the picture shows, your document changes to show you what that option would look like, before you actually make a selection. After you see the preview of what you want, then you click the option to make your selection. [ Note to trainer: This slide is identical to the preceding slide except that it has static art instead of an animation. Use this slide if you have problems viewing the animation. Delete either the current slide or the preceding slide before showing the presentation.]

For example, if you use Track Changes in Word or Excel every day to turn on revision marks, and you don’t want to have to click the Review tab to access that command each time, you can add Track Changes to the Quick Access Toolbar. To do that, right-click Track Changes on the Review tab, and then click Add to Quick Access Toolbar . To delete a button, right-click it, and then click Remove from Quick Access Toolbar . Click Play to see both these processes in action. [ Note to trainer: To play the animation when viewing the slide show, right-click the animation, and then click Play . After playing the file once, you may have to click Rewind (after right-clicking) and then click Play . If you have problems viewing the animation, see the notes for the last slide in this presentation about playing an Adobe Flash animation. If you still have problems viewing the animation, the slide that follows this one is a duplicate slide with static art. Delete either the current slide or the next slide before showing the presentation.]

For example, if you use Track Changes in Word or Excel every day to turn on revision marks, and you don’t want to have to click the Review tab to access that command each time, you can add Track Changes to the Quick Access Toolbar. To do that, right-click Track Changes on the Review tab, and then click Add to Quick Access Toolbar . To delete a button, right-click it, and then click Remove from Quick Access Toolbar . [ Note to trainer: This slide is identical to the preceding slide except that it has static art instead of an animation. Use this slide if you have problems viewing the animation. Delete either the current slide or the preceding slide before showing the presentation.]

More on low resolution: For example, in Word, with a higher resolution you will see all the commands in the Show/Hide group on the View tab. But with 800 by 600 resolution, you will see the Show/Hide button only, not the commands in the group. In that case, you click the arrow on the Show/Hide button to display the commands in the group. Generally, the groups that display only the group name at a lower resolution are those with less frequently used commands.

More on smaller windows: At any resolution, there is a window size at which some groups will display only the group name. So if you’re working in a program window that isn’t maximized, you may need to click the arrow on the group button to display the commands. More on Tablet PCs : If you have a Tablet PC with a larger monitor, the Ribbon adjusts to show you larger versions of the tabs and groups.

[ Note to trainer : With Word 2007 or Excel 2007 installed on your computer, you can click the link in the slide to go to an online practice. In the practice, you can work through each of these tasks in Word or Excel, with instructions to guide you. Important : If you don’t have Word 2007 or Excel 2007, you won’t be able to access the practice instructions.]

[ Note to trainer : With Word 2007 or Excel 2007 installed on your computer, you can click the link in the slide to go to an online practice. In the practice, you can work through each of these tasks in Word or Excel, with instructions to guide you. Important : If you don’t have Word 2007 or Excel 2007, you won’t be able to access the practice instructions.]

Transcript

1.
Basic ICT Skills ®Getting to know Microsoft Office 2007 Get up to speed with the Office 2007 system

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Basic ICT Skills ® Getting to know Microsoft Office 2007 OutcomesBy the end of this e-torial, you will be ableto: Find your way around Office 2007 Use the Office ribbon’s tabs, groupsand commands to complete tasks Create your own command toolbar ToolsThis e-torial make use of the followingprogrammes or tools: Vista Operating system MS Office 2007 (or any of the other MS Office 2007 programmes

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® Basic ICT Skills : Microsoft Office 2007What is new? When you open a 2007 Microsoft Office system program, you’ll see a lot that’s familiar. But you’ll also notice a new look at the top of the window. Menus and toolbars have been replaced by the Ribbon, which contains tabs that you click to get to commands. This presentation introduces you to the Ribbon and other new ways to make better documents, faster.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007The Ribbon Yes, there’s a lot of change to familiar Microsoft Office programs. But it’s good change.With the Ribbon, commands and other tools you needare now exposed and more readily available.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007What is on the ribbon? The three parts of the Ribbon are tabs, groups, and commands.1 Tabs sit across the top of the Ribbon. Each one represents core tasks you do in a given program.2 Groups are sets of related commands. They remain on display and readily available, giving you rich visual aids.3 Commands are arranged in groups. A command can be a button, a menu, or a box where you enter information.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 What is on the ribbon? How do you get started? Begin with the first tab.In Word 2007, for example, that’s the Home tab.It’s got the commands that people use most commonlywhen they write documents: font formatting commands(Font group), paragraph options (Paragraph group),and text styles (Styles group).

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 How are commands organized? Commands are organized by how they’re used.Frequently used core commands no longer have toshare space with a range of remotely related commandson a menu or toolbar.They’re the ones that get used, and so now they’re theones most prominently featured.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 More commands, on command! Commands you use most are available on the Ribbon all the time. Others appear only when you need them, in response to an action you take.For example, the Picture Tools in Word appear on theRibbon when you insert a picture, and they go awaywhen you’re done. The Ribbon responds to your action.So don’t worry if you don’t see all the commands at alltimes. Take the first steps, and what you need willappear.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007More options if you need them Sometimes an arrow, called the Dialog Box Launcher, appears in the lower-right corner of a group. This means more options are available for the group.For example, to get to a less commonly used font optionin PowerPoint® 2007: 1 On the Home tab, click the arrow in the Font group. 2 The Font dialog box opens, with the full selection of font commands.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 Preview before you select Are you familiar with the try-undo-try cycle? You make a change, it’s not what you want, and so you undo and keep trying until you get what you had in mind.Animation: Right-click on the picture above, and click Play.Now you can see a live preview of your choice beforeyou make a selection, which saves you time and givesyou better results.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 Preview before you select Are you familiar with the try-undo-try cycle? You make a change, it’s not what you want, and so you undo and keep trying until you get what you had in mind.Now you can see a live preview of your choice beforeyou make a selection, which saves you time and givesyou better results.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 Put commands on your own toolbar Do you often use commands that aren’t as quickly available as you’d like? You can easily add them to the Quick Access Toolbar.Animation: Right-click on the picture above, and click Play. Located above the Ribbon when you first start your Microsoft Office program, the Quick Access Toolbar puts commands where they’re always visible and near at hand.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 Put commands on your own toolbar Do you often use commands that aren’t as quickly available as you’d like? You can easily add them to the Quick Access Toolbar.Located above the Ribbon when you first start yourMicrosoft Office program, the Quick Access Toolbarputs commands where they’re always visible and nearat hand.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 Working with different screen resolutions Everything described so far applies if your screen is set to high resolution and the program window is maximized. If not, things look different.How? Like this:• Low resolution: If your screen is set to a low resolution, a few groups on the Ribbon will display the group name only, not the commands in the group. Click the arrow on the group button to display the commands.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007 Working with different screen resolutions Everything described so far applies if your screen is set to high resolution and the program window is maximized. If not, things look different.How? Like this:• Screen not maximized: Some groups will display only the group names.• Tablet PCs: On those with smaller screens, the Ribbon adjusts to show smaller versions of tabs and groups.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007Assessment: Question 1 The Paste, Cut, and Copy commands appear where on the Ribbon? (Pick one answer.) 1. On the last tab. 2. On the first tab. 3. On the Quick Access Toolbar.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007Assessment: Question 2 You move from a computer with a high screen resolution to one with a low resolution. You don’t see the commands in one group. What do you do? (Pick one answer.) • Click the View tab. • Click the View toolbar. • Click the arrow on the group button.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007Assessment: AnswerOn the first tab.These commands are used frequently, so they logically appear on thefirst tab of the Ribbon. Of course, you can add them to the Quick AccessToolbar if you want.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007Assessment: AnswerClick the arrow on the group button.If commands are not displayed, either because of screen resolution orbecause the program window isn’t maximized, you can displaycommands in a group by clicking the arrow on the group button.

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® Basic ICT Skills: Microsoft Office 2007Assessment: Answer This tutorial was adapted by maggiev for the Department of Education for use by subject advisors, teachers and learners ® Original Microsoft Office 2007 tutorial templates can be found at:http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/templates/CT102036981033.aspx All e-turials can be found on the Thutong portal: www.thutong.org.za